We've just had some bespoke kitchen units built. They were delivered yesterday and are the wrong colour!!!!
It's actully our fault as we signed off on the schedule of works which have the incorrect colour for the units. I think it's going to take a little time to get them taken away and painted by the company that made them and will also cost a bit more and we have already shelled out a lot on the units.
I was thinking about painting them myself so wanted to find out the best paint to use and what preparation if any is required. They are wood and are currently a light cream colour and i will be painting them a darker colour.
Many thanks
November 5, 2008 | L Harris
You can paint the units, be a good idea to put a primer coat of something like zinsser 123 to act as a base for your new paint. Forget any water based finish applied by brush, it will look ropey and you`ll regret it. You could gloss or eggshell, but to be honest you`re going to have to be a good painter to get any sort of finish comparable to the factory.
I`d suggest finding someone that can spray them for you, you might persuade a car spraying workshop to do it for you which i think is the best option, you could hire someone or you could hire the gear and do it yourself. Dont forget to use an appropriate undercoat
November 5, 2008 | Darren
Oil based egg shell on my and it is very good. It gives a very deep low sheen finish of around 20% gloss.
I prep the timber as normal ( well normal for me ) sanding to 180 grit. Appling a knotting solution to all knots. Primmer / sealer coat and a minimum of two oil based undercoats denibbing between coats. Before applying the first coat of egg shell I de-nib the undercoat using 320 grit silicon carbide lubricated with white spirits not water, to remove all bush marks or roller marks. If you use water and you sand through to the timber or MDF or any other man made board water will raise the grain and give tremble problems with normal grade MDF. So it is safer to use white spirit as a lubricate, well in think so.
Apply the first coat of egg shell using a 100mm good quality foam roller, going across the grain or short ways and finishing with light storks with the grain or long ways. De-nib as above with 500grit and white spirit again to remove all roller marks. Thin the last and final coat of egg shell with turpentine not white spirit by about 5-10%. Again using 100mm foam roller as above. By using turpentine or turpentine substitute you should not notice the slight dulling of the gloss level but you would if you use white spirits. By thinning the final coat it will level itself a little flatter.
You can us turpentine or turpentine substitute as a lubrication but as turpentine or turpentine substitute is considerably more expensive than white spirit I use white sprit.
Basically by using the above method you should get close to a cabinet maker finish or coach painters finish.
And don’t forget to use a tack cloth to remove all the dust left by the busting brush.
To store your roller and stopping it from hardening put about half a egg cup of turpentine in a sealable plastic bag bigger, place the roller in the plastic bag expel the air seal and work the turpentine into the roller. When you want to reuse the roller, remove any excess turpentine using a clean rag and rolling out on a scrap board ( I tend to use an old sheet of plaster or cardboard it draws out the paint from the roller a lot faster )
To give you some idea of the cost of spraying a kitchen unit inside and out in precatalyst high density lacquer, I would charge £50 - £100 per unit. Door and drawer fronts only £25.00 each
